High Stakes
by letsbefrankimawkward
Summary: If you like Saw you will like this, I think. What happens when the group gets mixed up in Jigsaw's sick games and Hyde is their only hope for survival? But don't worry, it's also JH. Warning:Not for the faint of heart. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

Note: This is my first fanfic. I wrote it right after I saw Saw 3. You don't have to have seen any of the Saw movies to get the story, but it's not like it can hurt.

Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own any of the characters or anything like that. But I can't imagine anyone thinking I did.

(1979: Eric came back from Africa to be w/ Donna. Sam is gone. Bob already left for Florida. The Jackie and Fez thing is non-existent along w/ the character Randy.)

"High Stakes"

Jackie Burkhardt never knew she could run so fast. She was running so fast she could hardly see where she was going, and of course the constant flow of tears blurring her vision was not helping.

Hyde had wanted to start a circle. She came to confront him about unresolved feelings and he suggested a circle. They had been alone in the basement at the time, but one Hyde lit up, everyone followed the scent and joined in. Jackie starred at her former-lover, the man who she still loved, in awe as Eric, Donna, Kelso, and Fez joined Hyde, oblivious the current situation between the troubled pair. They tripped without hesitation, as Red and Kitty were not yet back from their night out, despite the late hour.

Jackie had no desire to join her stoned friends and rushed out of the basement before she released her tears. She was not a block away from the apartment she shared with Fez when she felt her mouth being covered with a hand holding a chlorophyll soaked cloth.

Jackie woke up thirteen hours later in a daze with a splitting headache. She didn't know anything at that point, except that she was cold. Very cold. In fact, the farther out of unconsciousness she came, the more she realized just how cold she was. It took ten minutes for her to completely come out of the fog. In that time she learned that she was in a large room, completely bare and covered in white tiles on every surface. It must be nearly freezing since she could see her breath. She was hung from the ceiling by chains that held her wrists above her and the rest of her body swung free. She was naked.

Realizing her dangerous predicament she began to cry, like any normal human would. It was then that she heard familiar voices to her left.

"She's awake!"

"Jackie! Jackie, over here!"

"Oh my God! Oh my God! Please!"

Jackie looked to the left wall and saw a wide opening about five feet up the wall blocked off by prison bars and a mechanically operated door which led to the area opposite the wall. Through the opening a separate room was revealed containing Red, Kitty, Eric, Donna, Kelso, and Fez. They were the familiar voices.

"Oh my God! Help! What's going on! Help me!" Jackie yelled to the people she knew as her family. It was apparent that everyone had been crying, minus Red (but it was clear he was scared and holding back), due to the situation.

Everyone began yelling back to her all at once until Red shut them all up and explained. "We have all been captured. I don't know why or by whom, but whoever it is is not messing around. We were all knocked out with chlorophyll and woke up here. We've been here for hours, but you were only brought in and chained about an hour ago. Some girl was doing it, but she was taking orders from a man I couldn't see." By the time Red finished he was flustered and Kitty hugged him to calm him down.

"Why am I here and you're there? Why am I naked? Why is it so cold? Why-?" While Jackie's tears had never really stopped, they strengthened again and she was unable to speak comprehensively.

"I don't know. I-. I just don't know." Red stuttered, clearly just as scared as everyone else.

"Jackie, oh God! Are you okay?" Donna spoke up now. Jackie just stared at her best friend and cried as her only possible response.

"Fuck!" Kelso screamed while punching the wall, creating a dent but severely damaging his hand. Kitty tended to his hand while everyone stared at him. He just looked at Jackie and shook his head. "This can't be happening."

It was then that a thought struck Jackie. "Where's Steven?"

"We don't know," Eric responded, shamefully. He wished he could give Jackie more answers. He did not know what kind of trouble Hyde was in, and at this point, she was clearly in the worse situation. "He was taken also, but we don't know where." He looked into Jackie's oddly unsymmetrical eyes and felt shame and regret for all the horrible things he had ever said about her, despite that he thought of her as one of his best friends, just as he did with the rest of the tight-nit group.

Same Time

Steven Hyde woke up alone on the floor of dark, dank, and dirty room. It was even too dark and dank for his liking. He began to sit up, and feeling himself against a wall, rested back as he tried to think of how he got here. The last thing he remembered was being in a circle. He grinned at the memory of him and his friends tweaking, but the smile quickly fell off of his face when he remembered some person with a pig mask on walking into the basement and covering Eric's face with a cloth, knocking his friend out. They were all too high and stoned to react quickly, but when Donna got up and started to run she was quickly hit over the head with bat. Hyde did not remember much after that except the smell of chlorophyll.

He did however, remember being stunned when Jackie wanted to talk about unresolved feelings. _Feelings? I thought she didn't love me anymore. Oh God, what if she's giving me another chance?_ He was so shocked that all he could think to say was to suggest a circle. He hadn't meant to say it. It just slipped out. That is what he normally would do when he needed to figure things out. _I still love her, but what if she just wants closure or something. I don't want closure. I want another chance._ He was afraid to say what he was feeling, so out came the circle suggestion. The second he opened his mouth he wanted to close it knowing nothing good would come out, but he didn't. He felt horrible. _Damn, Jackie. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. _

He felt ashamed of himself, but his attention was quickly altered to a television high in the opposite corner of the room turning on and giving him a better look at his surroundings. As he watched the fuzzy images of the screen, his mind was racing. _What the fuck? Where is that? _"Jackie?"

Note: I like this story and I want to continue it, but I'm only going to post it if people read it. So even if only one person out there is reading it, I will continue. But you have to let me know that you like it. If care enough to want me to continue, just send a review that says so. It can even just say yes. Obviously you don't have to review if you do not want to. It's really not that big of a deal, but it is nice. And please, only constructive criticism. No hate mail. It's not cool man. Just not cool. e He H


	2. Chapter 2

Note: Thank you so much for the reviews. I'm glad people like it. Okay, so now the story is really going to be explained.

Looking at the television screen, Hyde could see Jackie hanging from chains, naked. Then the scene changed and he saw Red, Kitty, Eric, Donna, Fez, and Kelso in the smaller cell-like room. Hyde shouted to them, but obviously, they did not hear. The scene then changed again to focus on a freaky looking person, with a white face with red targets painted on his cheeks which were very large. Hyde could tell it was a mask, but it was creepy nonetheless.

"Hello Steven, or as your friends call you, Hyde," the masked person on the TV began. "I have been interested in you for quite some time. You are a very cynical person who does not seem to appreciate all the advantages you were given in life. Instead, you focus on what life has taken from you. You were abandoned by both your mother and father. They never loved you like you loved them. You took this to mean that every time you cared about someone, that person would leave, despite the fact that you are constantly surrounded by people who care about you. The Forman's took you in when you had nowhere to go. All of your closeted friends have proved time and time again that they are with you, especially one."

The screen changed back to show Jackie. "Jacqueline Burkhardt. She has loved you unconditionally no matter what you may try to convince yourself to believe. You thought of her as shallow and rich, and yet she has pushed aside so many other options to be with you. What do you do with the love she gives you? You throw it aside and sleep with a nurse. You answer simple questions of the future with 'I don't know' and then you go off and start your future with a stripper."

Hyde listened in horror to the truth being told to him, knocking the pride right out of him, and rightfully so. He was ashamed of himself.

The screen changed to the masked man again. "I am going to give you another chance, though. One of many. Only this time, the consequences of messing with the chance, are much, much greater. You will face a series of tests to determine your willingness to truly live a full life. After each test, there will be a reward if you pass, and a punishment if you fail. Passing a test guarantees the life of one of your friends in the cell and raises the temperature of the room Jackie is in, which is currently at 45 degrees, by two degrees. If you fail, not only will the temperature drop five degrees, but no ones life will be guaranteed, and there is only one test for each person you must save, including Jackie."

Same Time

In the cell, there was a TV as well with their own explanation, which everyone then in turn explained to Jackie.

"Your friend has five hours to complete the tests. Best of luck."

The TV's turned off and the ultimate test of love and sacrifice began.

Note: Bum bum bum. So now you know what is really going on. It should never really take me very long to update. I'll never leave you hanging for like, days. I am in high school, but I get my work done during the day, so I'll update often. Get it, got it, good.


	3. Chapter 3

Note: Let the gore begin.

Hyde opened the only door present and walked into a much larger room with a particularly high ceiling. It must have been about 30 feet high. On the ground in front of the door was a small piece of paper with instructions: "You failed gym class in high school. Here's your second chance. Climb the rope and ring the bell at the top. Once you touch the rope, you cannot fall off, or you lose."

Hyde finally took notice of what was hanging in the middle of the room: a strong rope reaching the ceiling with a bell next to it on the ceiling. But this was not any normal rope. It had been weaved around chards of glass. Throughout the entire length of the rope, pieces of broken glass were sticking out. Some big, some small. All sharp.

Same Time

The cold temperature began to make Jackie shiver. Her friends in the cell were all fully clothed. Since the current situation had finally begun to sink in, she had time to be embarrassed about her lack of clothing. She crossed her dangling legs and wished she could cover her chest. She told all of her friends not to look at her, and despite their protests, they obliged.

"Jackie, stop it," Donna protested while facing the opposite while of the cell away from Jackie along with everyone else. "We don't care if you're naked."

"We're just concerned about you, honey," Kitty explained. "You have absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about."

"Don't let him win," everyone looked at Fez who had uttered these unexplainable words.

"What do you mean?" Jackie responded. Everyone started to turn around a Fez was about to answer but she would not have that. "No! Turn around!" They obeyed.

Fez continued, "This is what he wants. This is part of his game. He is trying to shame you. Make you feel low. Hyde is not the only one who is on trial, here. We all are." Everyone looked at him confused.

"But Fez-," Donna began, knowing she would not finish.

"We all are," he said this with his usual exaggeration and shared a sad smile with Donna. "It may not be the same kind of test, but we still need to pass. We must decide who of us gets to live, because if he fails a test, it will not be all of us. Who gets to be selfish?"

"Fez, we are all scared, but I don't think any of us are going to be selfish in a situation like this," Eric said.

"Yeah," and Kelso agreed.

"Well then, if Hyde fails this test, which of us will not live?" Fez struck back. They had all forgotten about facing the wall by now and had formed a circle for the conversation, which Jackie was listening to intently. "There is one test for each of us, and if he fails one, that means that not all of us get to live. Remember? Who is that one going to be? Or those two? Or three? What if he fails all but one? Who will that one person be who gets to live?"

They all looked at each other dumbstruck, not just because of this realization, but because no one knew Fez could be so insightful and serious. No one else had been thinking ahead.

"It will not be me," Red said will fierce eyes, daring anyone to challenge his decision. "I've lived a long life. In the war we had to learn to sacrifice ourselves for those who have more to give to the world and still had a long life ahead of them."

"Which is why it will not be me either," Kitty stated calmly. Red's first instinct was to argue with her decision, but the look in her eyes to him that her choice had been made. He embraced her warmly.

"And then there where four," Eric said to no one in particular, but rather narrating the scene.

Hyde grasped the rope in his right hand and winced at the pain, but he could not let go. He brought his left hand above his right and pulled him self up off the ground. His hands, inner arms and inner knees were stinging with pain, but he took deep breaths and moved his hands higher up the rope, followed by his knees, rearing his entire body upward. He was only about six feet off the ground when the blood started seeping through his hands, but he kept going.

A little more than halfway up the rope, when the rope was running with blood and fresher wounds were forming inside his knees after wearing holes through them, Hyde's legs fell out from under him. He was only holding on the rope with his bloodied hands. His legs had been his main source of leverage. He started to slip down the rope a little in quick jerks before he could tighten his grasp again, which only deepened his cuts.

Same Time

"But, I…can't. I, why me?" Donna struggled to complain about everyone's decision for her to be the first one to be guaranteed life. "I don't…I just…" She looked at everyone will shiny, wet eyes. "Thank you," she said weakly.

They had come up with an order that, governed by Red, no one would protest. Lives would be guaranteed first to last starting with Donna, Kelso, Fez, Eric (which surprised Red not knowing his son could be so honorable), Kitty, and then Red. Jackie had her own separate test, which would be last.

All the negative talk had finally gotten to Jackie and she spoke up for the first time in a while, everyone forgetting that she had begun the debate, "Steven is not going to fail." Everyone looked at her, a little startled by her sudden participation. She was no longer embarrassed about being naked after Fez's speech. "Steven is going to pass all of these test things and no one is going to die."

"Jackie…" Kelso began.

"No. He can do this. He can. I know it sounds overly optimistic, but I believe in him. None of us or going to die." Jackie truly did believe in Hyde, but also knew that whatever he was facing was not easy, and that one of them may very well not live. She swallowed those negative fears, along with the thought that he might fail her test, and suddenly noticed the light shining form the TV in the cell, despite that she herself could not see the screen. "Hey, look at the TV."

Everyone gazed up as they saw Hyde working his way up the rope. Kitty hasped at the amount of blood she saw. Even as a nurse it was a horrifying sight.

"What's going on?" Jackie asked after hearing Kitty gasp. They realized she could not see the TV after a moment.

Donna explained what she saw to Jackie who began tearing up upon learning her love's first task.

"Oh shit!" "No!" Oh my God!" Everyone yelled at once upon witnessing Hyde slip on the rope.

"What? What is it?" Jackie begged, letting her tears fall.

"He-. No, he's fine. It's fine," Donna confessed with relief when Hyde managed to regain control of the situation again and continue up the rope.

"He slipped for a moment, but he's got it now," Eric filled Jackie in.

"Did he do it? Is he okay?" Jackie questioned after a while when everyone began smiling and sighing with relief.

"Yes, he did it," Fez said looking directly into Jackie's eyes and nodding with assurance. His sincere gaze comforted her. "He passed the first test.

Hyde rang the bell with relief. He looked down the rope and considered just dropping, but knew it would be a hard fall and would probably break a bone of some kind. He carefully, but quickly made his way down the rope, shrugging off the pain in his hands, eager to be on the ground again.

When he hit the ground, he heard a voice, "Congratulations. You passed your first test."

Note: Believe me. It will get gruesome. Get it. Got it. Good.


	4. Chapter 4

Note: Sorry it's taken so long. I've had a lot of other stiff going on, like life, I guess. And one of you was a little concerned on why Jackie must be naked. Fez explains this in chap 3. He (the killer) is shaming Jackie. Proving his power over everyone. Jackie serves as his trophy at this point and even if she were to just put on panties, it would not have the effect.

Jackie sighed as the temperature around her went up two degrees. Donna cried, realizing that so far, she was the only one who was safe. At this, Eric embraced her somewhat reassuringly Eric whispered in her ear, "Whatever happens, I love you. But if I don't get out of this-."

"Eric, stop it," Donna was horrified at that thought.

"Just listen to me. If I don't get out of this, you have to move on." Donna opened her mouth to interrupt again, but Eric stopped her. "No listen. Move on. Find a great guy that will love you and take care of you," Taking caution to Donna's raging feminism, he added, "even if you don't need taking care of." He kissed her forehead and she continued to cry.

"Why? Why would you want that? And why do you think you won't make it out?!"

At hearing Donna's words, Jackie gave Eric a fierce look. "What?! You think what?!"

"No Donna. That is not what I think." Eric was trying to remain calm, but with two fierce women looking like they wanted to pummel him, it was pretty hard.

"Shut up!" Donna yelled. Everyone was now completely drawn into the argument, not willing to share his or her opinion.

"I'm just saying 'if' and only 'if'-."

"How could you not have faith in Steven?!" Jackie shot.

"-I want you to be happy. With or without me."

Donna softened at these words, realizing just how much she was loved. But Jackie found no solace in his argument.

"Steven can do this! You bastard!" Jackie fought and struggled in her chains, trying to break free. Everyone watched in utter despair as she ground her teeth in fury and used all the strength her petite body had for freedom. They also watched her fury transform into sadness as she stopped struggling and cried as her tears shook her body.

Eric was the first to speak. "I'm sorry." Jackie lifted her head from her tears and looked at him and everyone else. Only up close could people ever tell that Jackie's eye's were different, but now, with her fresh tears swelling her eyes like never before, they gazed in awe as her one green eye, and one blue eye, reflected their color to them easily and throughout the entire room.

After settling down, someone new spoke up. "Hyde's in the next room," Kelso noticed in the TV.

Hyde was in the room where his next test would be. He had just finished reading his card of instructions.

"Holy shit."

In a cage filling half the room were two incredibly vicious and large dogs. Rottweilers. Hyde must go into the cage and retrieve the bells that are attached to the collars of both dogs. Then he must get out of the cage without the dogs and ring the bells. Once he goes in the cage, if he comes out without the bells, he fails.

Hyde swallowed in fear at the sight of the growling and barking dogs. Guard dogs, he assumed. He took a few more deep breathes, cursed himself for never wearing athletic shoes, and entered the domain of the dogs, closing the cage door behind him.

In the cell, everyone watched as Hyde entered the cage of dogs.

"This is sick!" Kitty exclaimed, horrified as her Steven entered a cage with the most disgustingly vicious dogs she had ever seen. It made her wish she was holding Schotzie.

"What? What is it?" Jackie could not see what Hyde was doing.

"You don't want to know, Jackie." Fez assures her.

"No. Tell me."

"Jackie, really."

"No. Tell me right now, Fez."

"Fine." Fez told Jackie what Hyde was doing and what was happening.

"Oh my God! Steven!"

"I told you it was bad!"

"Both of you, shut up!" Donna yelled. "Jackie, I will tell you whether or not you want to know what is going on, okay?"

"No!" Jackie struck back, taking Donna off guard. "I'm sorry. But no matter what it is, I need to know what is going on. I don't care what it is. I need to know."

Everyone nodded, admiring Jackie's power, even in her predicament, she was no less powerful in her demands.

The moment Hyde entered the cage, even before he was able to close the door completely, he was in a mess of claws and incredibly sharp teeth. One bit his leg while the other jumped up and dug his claws into Hyde's back. He yelled in pain as he fought them off, trying still to get the bells off their collars. He managed to free his leg while kicking the dog across the room. As he kicked it he also went for the bell, but was without success. As he threw the other dog off him, the other one came back. In seconds he found himself on the ground with the two dogs on top of him. He was failing.

His mind was racing. _No, I can't believe this. This is just the second test. I'm sorry everyone. I failed you. I'm so sorry Jackie. Jackie_.

And with that last thought, he was on his feet with the dogs shoved away. He was not going to fail Jackie. Not again.

Hyde wrestled with one dog as it tore at his shirt. In the process, he grasped the bell on the collar and pulled. Once he had the bell, he grappled with the dog more until he was on top of it, with the other dog clawing and biting him. With his weight on top of the dog, he managed to injure it severely. Then he had to take care of the next dog. This one was not as easily fooled and never let Hyde get the upper hand. He gripped the bell he already had one bloodied hand while the other blocked his face from severe harm. The dog was too fast for Hyde however, and ran around him, biting mercilessly into Hyde's side. As the dog's fangs sank into his flesh, Hyde became an animal himself, growling. He took off his beloved sunglasses that he had never taken off during this whole process, and without a second thought, shoved them into the face of the dog, crushing the glass into the dog's eyes. As the dog pulled away, it took Hyde's t-shirt with him, leaving him in a bloodied undershirt, with the second bell in hand.

Hyde stumbled out of the cage and locked the door behind him, falling to the ground on his knees. He rang the bells in unison and then heard a familiar voice congratulating him.

"Go fuck yourself you sick bastard!" Hyde grumbled to the empty room.

Jackie smiled at the cheering of Hyde's success as the temperature rose another two degrees, and Kelso cried at his life being saved.

Note: Get it. Got it. Good.


	5. Chapter 5

Note: I have been having some serious computer problems forever. I couldn't upload my documents. Sorry about that. But hey, if you're reading this, it means the problem has been fixed.

Note 2: Some of you still seem to be confused as to why Jackie needs to be naked and shamed. Well, because her suffering is everyone's suffering, especially Hyde's. One of you said that everyone else seems to be getting off easy. Well, relatively, yes, but in general, no. And that's the point. Besides, this is Jigsaw here. No one gets off easy. Now while everyone is being tested in their own ways, you must remember that this is really Hyde's test that is the focus. Jackie is suffering more because of that. If you still have questions, feel free to ask me in a review or something.

Now, on with the show.

Hyde collapsed on the ground after ringing the bells off of the dog's collars. He was drenched in sweat and splattered with blood, not all of it being his own. He left the bells on the floor as he stood up, regaining his strength, ready for whatever he was facing next.

In the cell, Fez held Kelso as he cried shamelessly over what Hyde had just gone through to save their lives, but more specifically, his life. Kelso's life was the one that was saved. There were four lives left to save of the people in the cell. Then there was Jackie. Everyone knew that another test entirely was reserved for Jackie's life, and while they had no idea what it would be, it was clear that it would be the most gruesome.

"Jackie, sweetie. How are you holding up?" Kitty clutched onto the metal bars separating her from the girl she desperately wanted to comfort.

"My arms. They're really sore," responded the dangling victim. The only thing Jackie now wished more than cloths to be granted to her was for the ability to let her feet touch the ground to relieve the strain on her wrists, arms, and shoulders. She had been trying to stretch her body for sometime now, wriggling her wrists in the chains, trying to break free. But it was useless. She was a good two feet above the floor.

Jackie had long become accustomed to her cold state, but was still relieved when the temperature was raised to nearly 50 degrees.

Hyde walked into the next room and picked up the card of instructions ready to shed more blood. He realized his blood would be saved for another test however, when he fully understood his next task.

The card read: "Making it this far is a very big thing to be proud of. I hope you have recognized your own strength. This task is much, much simpler. All you have to do is pull the lever and the bell you must ring will fall out of the ceiling compartments. Be cautious however, because coming out of the compartments are also hot coals. Find the bell among them and ring it, and you win. Or, you could simply walk into the next room for your next test without the bell. If you chose to do so, however, one of your friends will die. "

Hyde took notice of the lever angled to the left in the middle of the room. Above him, he saw that the entire ceiling would open up, dropping hot coals directly on him. He then saw the door on the other side of the room. It was no more than a few yards away. For a second, Hyde let his mind wander to selfish thoughts of letting someone die. _Can I really stand having hot coals dumped on top of me? I'm not sure if I can take any more pain. I just want this to stop. Who will die if I just walk through that door? No matter what, it will be someone I love. _Love. Hyde thought it. He thought of love. He loved everyone whose lives were at stake today. He was not going to just walk away from this. _No. I have to do this. _With the latter thoughts taking over his mind, he walked to the center of the room, bracing himself, and without another moments hesitation, he pulled the lever to the right.

"Oh God, Steven," Red sighed as he witnessed on the TV the boy who he thought of as a second son being covered in what he assumed right, to be hot coals.

Kitty held on for dear life to Eric's hand, while Donna occupied his other shoulder with her head, her arms squeezing around Eric's waist and his arm around hers. Fez sat on the

floor against the wall, watching the TV with a somewhat stoic stare. Kelso took his turn describing the horrible situation Hyde was in to Jackie while she cringed and shed silent tears.

"This is for me," Fez stated with little emotion in barely comprehensible English. "I can't believe this one is for me." He then closed his eyes and tilted his head down while reciting what was assumed by the others to be a prayer in his native tongue while making small hand motions against his body that seemed to go with what he was mumbling. Red made eye contact with Fez when he was done with his silent prayer and gave him a small nod of approval, showing respect for another man's culture and beliefs for the first ever. Fez nodded back in courtesy and resumed his prayers.

Hyde's entire body was burning as he pushed aside coal in his quest for the bell. He was simply thankful that no more of it was falling on him. He had hunched over for protection when the ceiling released the burning element, while also using his hands to protect his face. But he rose up too quickly in anticipation to find the bell and pieces of coal fell onto his head and shoulders, burning him, while one piece hit his forehead and fell down his face resulting in a long red burn going over his left brow and across his nose onto his right cheek and ending at his jaw.

The coal was up to his knees and he could feel the burn through is quickly thinning jeans. It was the first time in his life Hyde regretted having holes in his pants. The coated blood on his hands offered only so much protection from the burn of the coals as he sifted through them looking for the slightest glimpse of something bronze colored, his ears straining to hear a jingle. His eye finally spotted something that definitely did not mix with the general scene of charcoal. He lunged at what he desperately hoped was the bell, losing his balance and falling forward, feeling the burns on his chest as he grabbed onto and object that did not belong with the rest. His hand formed around it underneath a layer of coal and a simile dashed across his lips as his suspicions of the objects nature were confirmed. It was definitely a bell. He pulled it out ringing and stumbled his way above the coal while he was congratulated by the man who finally gave a name for himself as Jigsaw.

Fez's head thumped against the wall and his eyes glassed over with tears that inched their way through his lashes and onto his cheeks. His life was saved.

Jackie sighed in relief upon hearing of the success of Hyde in his latest mission from her ex-boyfriend whom she still thought of as one of her closest friends. Her shivering lessened as the temperature was raised another two degrees.

Note: Okay, it is getting a little difficult to come up with tests for Hyde, so I figured y'all could help. Give me suggestions through reviews and I'll see what I can do with them. Please try to make them doable. The tasks are not meant to be impossible. This latest task was a little off from how they usually are. It was never before acknowledged that he could skip a test, but I was debating whether to use it or not. Also, he could not just stop a task and fail it. He could either do it or not.

Now if I do use your suggestion, I will give credit where credit is due. If you give me a suggestion and you're anonymous, well, I can't give you credit then. Hint, hint. Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink. GET YOURSELF AN ACCOUNT AND LOG ON. Get it. Got it. Good.


	6. Chapter 6

Note: Thanks y'all. I got some sweet suggestions. The one I am going to use is kinda like something that happened in Saw, but who gives a fuck? I don't. Well, anyway, I got the idea from Jessroxmysox. You know what Jessroxmysox? You rock my sox. I used to have a friend who said "rox my sox" a lot, but whatever, that's beside the point. Now if I did not use your suggestion, do not be discouraged. Come up with more. I need them. This is getting hard. Alright dudes. Now let's get it on!

Hyde rubbed his face as he walked into the next room, feeling the burn that would likely create a light scar across his face. It still hurt, along with his chest, shoulders and back. His hands and his legs from the knees down where numbed from the burns they received and he could no longer feel the pain from the nerves being fried. He guessed it would be awhile before they built back up again.

He looked into the dimly lit room and paused in confusion. There was what looked like a dead body in the corner and nothing else. He picked up his instruction card and read it, his expression changing from curiosity, to confusion, to anxiety, to desperation and fear.

That was no dead body…

In the cell, Red and Eric tapped their feet unconsciously, steeling quick glances at one another. Hyde had passed every test. They believed it was only matter of time. But this was different. This was Eric's turn. This was Eric's chance for survival, but if Hyde failed, Red would pay the price. If Hyde failed, a father would die in place of his son. Then, if Hyde failed again, a mother would die in place of his son. If again, it would be Eric's time, then Jackie's test would come into play.

Eric's gulped down his nervousness and spoke to his father, only taking quick glances at him in the process, "Um…so uhhh. Hyde's done, uhhh, well…" He was sweating profusely now, not daring to keep his eyes on his father for more than a second, "you know…with the um, tests…and all. I mean, he uhhh…he hasn't, like um…well, I mean, he's passed them all, and uhhh…you know, um, gotten through it, I guess."

"Yes, he has." Red responded, just as nervous. "Done well, I mean…with the uhhh, tests."

Kitty was the only one paying attention to the quiet conversation taking place between father and son, and was trying her hardest not to interrupt, but eventually, it just came out, "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Her signature nervous laugh. Red and Eric shared a glance at her, and she calmed her self down a little and managed to speak, "You both look so tense, it just…it makes me so nervous," she lost her composure once again, "AHAHAHA!" She shut her mouth quickly and became rather serious to the surprise of the two most important men in her life, "Steven will not let either of you down." With that the conversation was dropped and focus was regained on the screen with Donna telling Jackie what was going on, or in this case, what wasn't going on.

"He's just standing there…" the red-head reported to her chained best friend. "Doesn't he know there's a time limit? Oh my God, what if he doesn't know? Oh my God, he doesn't know there's a time limit."

"Of course he knows," Kelso failed to sound assuring because at the same time he was trying the convince himself. "I mean, how could he not know?"

"By him not being told."

"He's just trying to figure out how to do whatever it is he's gotta do. What does he have to do anyway? I don't see anything in the room. The lighting isn't so good."

"He's moving now," Donna noticed on the screen and reported to Jackie. "He's walking to a corner."

Hyde was walking slowly towards the body in the room. The instant the body came full into light, he closed his eyes before he could see its face and walked a little closer. His eyes remained squeezed shut, terrified of the identity of his alive companion who had been captured and drugged, and in his very body, held the key to Hyde's progression: the bell.

All Hyde knew was that it was someone he knows. And cares about.

He tried to think of who it might be outside of his small group of friends. A thought struck him. _Please don't be Leo. Please don't be Leo. Pleeeeeeeaaaaase don't be Leo. _Hyde begged of the higher power he did not believe existed. _I don't know what I'm gonna do if it's Leo. How can I make a choice like that? _Hyde slowly opened his eyes until the identity of the person was revealed to him. _Huh?_ At first he was confused by the face, not knowing whom it was. Then he remembered, and then confusion struck him again. _Bud?_

It was indeed Bud Hyde. The man Hyde had thought to be his father for the first 18 years of his life. The man who had abandoned him with his drunken mother. The man he loathed. The man he swore he would never be. The man he still for some reason cared about.

Hyde looked at the door that would lead him to the next room. He didn't have to do this. He could just as well walk into the next room and begin the next test, saving time, and his supposed father. But who would pay the price? Who would he lose in the process? Hyde knew he cared far more about the people in the cell than Bud, but for him to have to do this himself was just too much.

_Maybe he won't die. _Hyde was having unusually optimistic thoughts about the procedure he might have to perform of Bud. _Maybe it won't kill him. I just gotta cut him open and get the bell. But where is the bell? Where is it inside of him? I'll have to go digging around for it. _At that very thought, Hyde nearly vomited, but he managed to compose himself and continue his thought process. _I could then maybe take him with me and Kitty could help him. But I still have more tests, and it's not like he would be able to handle himself, He can't even do it now. But that is supposing he lives through it. That is supposing I'm doing it. This isn't murder, is it? _

Hyde abruptly stood up and began pacing the room, contemplating the latter question.

"What is he doing?" Fez looked at the TV confused.

"I don't know," answered kitty, "but he must be preparing himself. He can do anything!" She was still trying to remain optimistic, but no one was fooled.

"What? What's going on?" Jackie whined, long ago learning how to block out the irrational part of her mind that just wanted get out in anyway possible of her chains and put clothes on, and focused on what was going on in the cell. "What is Steven doing? What's the next test?"

"I don't know. There's not even anything in the room with him," Donna had a very bad feeling about this test. As far as she and everyone could see on the screen, Hyde was in an empty room. "He's just pacing."

Then they saw him bend down over something in the corner for a long time, and it sounded like he was saying something to someone, but they could not make out the words.

"Oh, oh, there's something there!" Kelso shrieked, noticing the outline of a figure that still remained a mystery to them.

"What the fuck is he doing?" Eric couldn't take it anymore. He wanted this test over with. He wanted everything over with.

"Okay, okay, here we go. He's, like, hitting the thing and shaking it. Now he's picking up something else from behind that other thing," Donna began narrating to Jackie. "Now here using the thing to, like, poke the other thing, I think."

"Yeah, thanks you lumberjack! That's real specific!" Jackie gave a condescending tone.

"Well, I can't see it clearly. None of us can."

"Okay, well, what can you see?"

"I'm trying to tell you! Okay, he's cutting the thing with the other thing. Like, opening it or something. Now he's taking something out of the thing. The first thing I mean. Now he's pulling something out of the thing. It's all just a big blob of something. It looks like he's looking for something in there, though. Yeah, he is definitely looking for something."

"That's not something," Red took a step forward after having a few war flashbacks. "That's someone."

Hyde was on the edge of vomiting again, digging through Bud's intestines. He was simply thankful Bud was not awake. He had tried to wake him up several time to be sure. Then he took the large butcher knife, which was behind Buds body, and began the surgery. Hyde's hands were recoated with someone else's blood as he dug through intestines and other organs in search of the bell. _Oh my God! _Hyde swallowed his own vomit, and continued to search, finally finding the bell under what Hyde thought was Buds liver, but was not certain.

He pulled out the bloodied bell and looked at it in his red hands. He stood up slowly, sighed, rang it lightly, then with all the force in his body threw the bell against the wall, smashing to pieces.

"Go to hell you bastard! You fucker!" Hyde went into an uncontrollable rage, screaming and kicking and punching the walls with all his strength, never even thinking of the physical pain. "Fucking sick freak! You're a freak! A fucking psycho! You're a psychopath! A FUCKING PSYCHOPATH! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed his head off with one final punch, before stabilizing himself against a wall with his hands up against it supporting his body and his head down, steadying his breathing.

In the cell, no one said anything. Eric just twitched with his life officially safe.

Jackie hardly even realized the rise in temperature in the room.

Note: I was thinking I would use something to this extent for Jackie's test, but then I got a better idea for her test, and I went ahead and gave Hyde a physical break, got the mental and emotional thing going, and killed someone. Get it. Got it. Good.


	7. Chapter 7

Note: I'm back. Just so it's out there, people have been suggesting I use like weed and stuff, but the thing is, Hyde needs to be lucid for this. I know it would impose a great handicap on him, but I want him sober for this. Okay, so this idea is from flamingboy511. Thanks so much!

Hyde took several deep breaths before walking into the next room. His jaw was clenched and his eyes looked like they could burn holes through anything standing in his way.

He was surprised when the next door did not open to the ground level of the next room. Instead he was on a landing about 15 feet above the ground. The landing narrowed in front of him into a pathway that lead directly to the door on the other end of the room. The steel-gated walkway was directly over a large pool that was filled from the floor to the very top, slightly submerging the bottom of the walkway. The pool was transparent, so Hyde could see at the very bottom, a bell only kept submerged by a thin piece of string tied to a hook at the floor of the pool. Hyde sighed, thinking this would be the easiest task of all, until he read the instruction card.

Everyone in the cell sat in silence, not daring to speak a word. They had known he was killing a man while he was doing the act, but they did not realize said man was Bud until Hyde moved out of the way and they were able to really focus on the body's face.

Kitty was crying quietly while Donna remained in shock. Jackie had long ago shed all the tears her small body could possibly produce. She could no longer feel her arms and her legs were experiencing the tingling sensation of falling asleep. She shook them until her weary body gave in and allowed her legs to fall into uselessness.

Hyde stripped off his clothes until only his boxers remained. He left his clothes on the walkway before taking several deep breathes and diving into the water with his eyes closed. The water was barely above freezing as his instruction card had warned him. The moment he dove in, he could feel the pieces of glass that also occupied the pool, but were invisible to him in the water.

Hyde could never remember feeling so cold in his life. He barely opened his eyes under water for fear of the glass cutting his eyes. The farther down towards the bell he swam, the redder the water began to turn.

"What the fuck is happening?" Kelso was confused by the transformation of the color of the water Hyde was swimming in.

"The water looks like it's starting to turn red," Eric informed Jackie who held a look of confusion on her face.

"Red? Like blood? But I thought he was just swimming. How is he bleeding?" Jackie questioned.

"Water doesn't make you bleed," Fez stated, like the rest of his friends were crazy for considering that it could be blood.

"Well, duh," Donna said with an annoyed look at Fez. "That's why we're confused. We don't know why he's bleeding."

"It looks like small cuts are forming all over his body," Kitty began to analyze. As she was looking at the TV, she saw through the red in the water, a shape of some sort float threw. "There is something in the water. I can't really see it, but something that is cutting him."

"It's probably glass," Red gave his assumption and everyone else nodded with approval.

"He's swimming through glass?!" Jackie shrieked.

Hyde gripped the bell and pulled, easily breaking the string holding it in place. He turned around and began swimming upward as fast as possible with his eyes closed, still not being able to avoid the mass amounts of glass that filled the pool.

When his head hit air, he opened his eyes and took a giant breath, allowing oxygen into his lungs. He gripped onto the edge of the steel-gate walkway with shaking arms and pulled himself up, out of the water.

For a moment he lay curled in a ball above the pool, his body covered in cuts, shivering. He finally stood up, still shivering, and shook his entire body like a dog in an attempt to be dry. While doing so, the bell rang and he was congratulated on completing the task. After hearing this, Hyde dropped the bell and used his undershirt like a towel. He dried himself off to the best of his ability before putting on his jeans, socks, and boots, and in the end deciding to put his undershirt on once again. He wasn't warm, but he wasn't freezing.

Kitty looked up at her husband next to her, tears pooling her eyes. Her life was saved. Red was the last one left before Jackie's test. They hugged, hoping that Hyde would be able to make it through those last tests as he had the others.

As the temperature of the room rose two degrees, Jackie was still shivering. The temperature was now 55 degrees, but that was still cold when you were naked.

"Almost done," Jackie gave a hopeful smile to her friends in the cell and waited for one of them to tell her what would be happening to Hyde next.

Note: Well, we're almost there. After the tasks are done I may have a prologue. Keep giving me ideas. I need them. Get it. Got it. Good.


	8. Chapter 8

Note: The bad news- I'm grounded which means everyday after school this week I go straight home. No mall, no movies, nothing. The good news- you get more updates! A lot of you have been saying that you want someone to die, which is a little discouraging because you're supposed to like the characters But I'm going to do this story the way I believe it should be done, and I think most of you will like it. This next task is my own. I was thinking about giving you a hint, but then I decided against it.

Note 2: The glass in the tank would have been small enough to float, and also, because of the cold temperature, each cut would have felt much more painful under water. Haven't y'all ever been really cold? Like your hands are freezing. And then you get like a cut on your hand. It is like a thousand times more painful. It has happened to me numerous times while on the mountain (I snowboard) so what Hyde was doing last time was more painful than it seems. Any way.

Hyde rubbed his arms with them crossed over his chest as he walked over to the door carefully because the metal gate walkway was still very wet. The last thing he wanted was to end back up in the tank of water and glass.

While the water had diluted must of his cuts, now that he was significantly dryer, they began trickling new blood all over his body. He looked as if he had just walked out of the toughest bar fights in the history of man. And if he had won, the other guy must have been a truly gruesome sight.

Hyde entered the next room and froze the moment he entered the room and saw what it contained.

Jackie's legs were like Jell-O. They maintained their shape, but they were not necessarily solid. Her arms, more specifically her shoulders, elbows, and wrists, were numb from the strain, and she felt that she was on the verge of passing out from her own immobility. She had long ago forgotten her need to use a toilet along with everyone else, and she wanted nothing more then to be put out of her misery.

"It's almost over, sweetie. You just have to hang on a little more, okay?" Kitty's maternal instincts were going crazy with the need to cradle the young girl in her arms and hug and kiss and hush all her worries away.

Jackie was incredibly weak at this point, both physically and mentally. She was ready to pass out and was actually welcoming unconsciousness, but Kitty was not about to let that happen.

"Come on, Jackie. Talk to me. You love to talk. Now is not the time to grow shy." Kitty gave a nervous laugh and this signaled Donna for help.

"Jackie, say something," the redhead had never before now been within hearing distance of Jackie and not heard her speak for more than five minutes. She even talked in her sleep.

Jackie's only response was a long grunt from the back of her throat.

"Come on. You gotta give me something more than that."

All they heard was a more elaborate grunt.

"What?"

Something about Cheez-its.

"Huh?"

Jackie finally cleared her throat but did not look up at Donna, "I want Steven."

Donna did not have a response for that.

Hyde's eyes could not look away from the scene before him: a long metal pole in the center of the room that went from the ceiling to the floor with a stripper tied to it. But not just any stripper. No. This was Sam.

While Hyde never truly loved, or even liked Sam for that matter, he would never wish anything like this upon her. He read his instruction card and found that she was indeed, dead. He checked her pulse just to be sure. _Dead. I guess I'm a bad person to be affiliated with. _Around Sam's neck was the bell. His task was oddly simple, which scared him a little bit. All he had to do was take the bell from around her neck and ring it. Literally.

He approached his ex-wife cautiously, then gripped the bell and pulled. _Huh. That's weird. _The bell wouldn't come off. He pulled again. No luck. He took a moment to examine the rope the bell was on, until he noticed that the bell wasn't on the rope around her neck, but it was what was just left over from her being strangled. The bell was run through a wire. A wire that went into her throat through her neck.

"Is that Sam?" Kelso was a surprised to see Hyde's former stripper-wife as a part of the next task.

"It's the whore!" Fez yelled. They were all surprised when Jackie didn't stir at hearing this. "Jackie! Jackie, it's the whore! Sam! Sam the ex-stripper-whore-wife of the man you love!" No response.

"Oh shit," was all Eric could think to say as they all looked at Jackie's passed out body.

Hyde pulled the tough wire with all his strength as little by little, the bloody line came out. The hole in her throat was being stretched as blood seeped out of it down Sam's chest and onto the length of her body until it began to pool at the floor. He eventually came to his first real jam. It was completely stuck. He cursed himself, apologized to Sam's dead body for ever meeting her, and dug his fingers into the hole in Sam's neck.

No one was paying any attention to the TV in the cell anymore and they were all screaming their lungs out in an attempt to stir Jackie.

Kelso dug into his pockets with a silent prayer and his face lit up with excitement when came up with a two jellybeans in his hand. He tossed one bean through the bars and it fell to the floor after softly hitting Jackie's waist.

"Kelso! What are you doing?" Donna could not figure out the logic of throwing a jellybean that will barely hit Jackie to wake her up when screaming wouldn't do it.

"When you're passed out, screaming won't do a thing, but even a small touch just might. Believe me, I've passed out enough to know what wakes you up."

"Here, give it to me," Eric took the other jellybean from Kelso and smiled at his known aiming ability. _Gotta love Taxi. _He threw the small candy and was able to do so with more aim and power. It hit Jackie's chin and she stirred a little. At seeing her move, they all screamed and she shook her head a little coming out of a daze.

"Huh?" Jackie looked at her friends wearily.

"Keep your eyes open," Red told Jackie, and she tried her hardest to obey, but her eye lids felt heavy and her mind was spinning.

Hyde felt what was causing the trouble. An organ. Her heart, he guessed right. He pulled it out through her throat and felt a little sick, but his tolerance for first hand gore had improved a little since his encounter with Bud and he was able to hold himself together.

_How far down does this thing go? _He had to get the rest of the wire out of Sam before the ringing of the bell would count. To be honest, Hyde was a little surprised with this test. _It seems like a test like this would be for Jackie, but hers is next. At least I know all of the other guys are alright. _He continued.

Eventually, the hole in Sam's throat was now extended to open up her entire neck and the top of her chest before the chest cavity. He had pulled out nearly every organ in her body and was now down to parts of her lower abdomen.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," was the unanimous comment among everyone in the cell regarding the image on the TV except for Red. Apparently, he had seen worse in the war. They were not able to see the innards of Bud because of the poor lighting. But this, unfortunately, they had front rows seats to for the viewing.

Jackie was only vaguely capable of understanding what Hyde was doing even though it had been explained very well by Kitty using all the proper terms. All Jackie was processing was "Sam, wire, through body." She came a little more out of it at hearing the name "Sam" but at this point, it did not peek her interest enough to actually look at Kitty while she explained things further.

Hyde's arms were coated in blood up to his elbows. The smell was beginning to make him dizzy. He wiped some sweat off his forehead, not realizing all he really did was replace it with blood, and continued digging into Sam's body for her liver.

Surrounding him on the floor were her heart, lungs, both big and small intestines, kidneys, and several other organs and parts of her body whose names where unknown to him.

Finally, out came the liver. He threw it on the ground and followed the length of the wire down into her body once again to grasp what her assumed were her reproductive organs. He pulled them out as the end of the wire came with it, and on the outside of her body, the area in between her legs looked collapsed. Now she was just skin and bone. Literally.

Hyde rang the bell on the long wire and wiped his hands and arms on his clothes as best he could before deciding he didn't care.

"You have successfully saved all of your friends. Congratulations. Now, only one test remains." Hyde did not even flinch at the sound of Jigsaw's voice as he had in the past. He had had enough of this shit. _Bring it on. Fucking bring it on. I'll do anything to save Jackie. _

Red sighed and everyone in the cell rested a little easier. A very little.

Note: Okay. Now some of you are probably a little surprised that I didn't kill one of them, well, I didn't want to. There. Once again, that was less physical and more mental. I guess it was kind of the same thing as Bud; only Hyde had to kill Bud. I wanted Sam already dead. This may surprise you, but I don't hate Sam. I hate what she represents. It's really not her fault. The test was lame, but that's okay. If you wanted something else, you should have suggested it. A lot of people don't seem to get that the tests have to be done inside. Not in a field or anything. And they cannot be overly elaborate. The whole point of saw is to take a simple task and make it physically or mentally demanding, while still technically being a simple task. Anyway. Give me more suggestions, seriously.

Get it. Got it. Good.


	9. Chapter 9

Note: I'm back! Okay, so by using my incredible powers of persuasion, my ability to make myself the victim in any situation, and my incredible puppy dog pout (you should see it, it's awesome) I was able to un-ground myself and last night I hung out with my friend and we watched hilarious things online and laughed at all the insane things that Bobby Brown and his family do on "Being Bobby Brown" and then we watched what was actually a very interesting documentary about a homeless guy who is given 100,000 dollars. It was actually fascinating. He kept on saying, "I'm not going to blow it" and for a while he didn't. He helped out the only guy who was nice to him when he had been poor because all of a sudden people wanted to be his friends (the nerve of some people). He tried to get on his feet and even saw a consultant about some things, but in the end, he just didn't know how to deal with the huge turn of events. He did put it all in a bank though. It probably sounds easy to us because while we are not necessarily rich, we are not homeless (and I know this because if you have a computer, believe me, you are not homeless, and if you are, hello, priorities) and we know how to really deal with it. He had been homeless for so long he had no idea. But he was actually getting along as nicely as a homeless guy could. But anyway, I got way off topic, but hey, it's who I am. Love me. Hate me. Either way, you're thinking about me. Okay, so I went through many people's suggestions and considered one or two, until I thought of my own which I believe the majority of you will like. Hopefully. The reason I went with my own was because I was having a hard time fitting other things into the story the way I want it to. But what he is going to do is something very serious and not to be taken lightly. Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. Okay, so I've rambled on long enough. Here's the story.

Jackie sat up startled and appeared to be on a very small bed, almost like a…cot. At this realization she noticed the warmth she felt next to her. She looked down next to her and there he was. _Steven. _She was incredibly startled by his presence and practically fell out of the cot with a yelp.

"Jackie, baby. What's wrong?" Hyde asked sleepily, woken by her sudden movement.

Jackie looked around. She was in his room. In must be late at night. She was dressed in nothing but underwear and her priceless Led Zeppelin t-shirt.

"Oh my god!" Jackie began crying uncontrollably.

"Hey, hey what is this?" Hyde crawled out of the cot with nothing on but some boxers and sat down on the floor next to her enveloping her in a hug. "What's wrong? Shhh, shhh. It's okay. I'm here. I'm here, Jackie. What happened?"

Jackie clung onto her lover for dear life with both arms wrapped around his neck and her head buried into his shoulder. Hyde leaned up against his cot with his legs out in front of him and gently edged Jackie onto his lap with her legs curled up on one side. He kept one arm around her waist with his hand resting on the small of her back and the other he reached up with and placed on the back of her head, gently stroking her soft hair. He began lightly kissing any part of her face he could reach. He didn't know what was wrong or what to say, but he did know that his light kisses always comforted Jackie, so he went with what he had.

Eventually Jackie calmed down enough and Hyde lifted her head off of his shoulder with both his hands carefully cupping her cheeks and he looked her straight in the eye. She sighed and rested her forehead against his closing her eyes.

"Sorry, Steven. I didn't mean to wake you."

"No, no. It's okay, just, what happened?"

Jackie opened her eyes and in the darkness could faintly see his beautiful light blue eyes staring into hers with nothing but worry, concern, and yes, there it was. Love. She smiled a little.

"It's nothing. Just a bad dream."

"Okay." But Hyde wasn't completely satisfied. He knew that if "yes" was the answer to his next question then he could possibly regret asking it, but that wasn't important now. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"No."

He sighed, slightly relieved and slightly worried about her answer, but he decided to leave it. "Okay."

They crawled back into the cot and took their traditional sleeping position: Jackie's back closely pressed against Hyde's chest with his arms wrapped around her protectively and her arms resting over his. He dug his face into her long hair and kissed the back of her neck. Jackie liked this feeling and smiled at her boyfriend's ability to be so sweet.

"Jackie, it's gonna be okay."

"I know."

"I promise, I can do this."

"What? Steven, What are you talking about?" Jackie turned around to look at him, but he was gone. "Steven, where did you go? Steven!"

Jackie closed her eyes tightly and curled up in the cot not knowing what was going on. Eventually, the warmness of the cot and the lingering scent of her Steven faded away and she felt cold.

Jackie jerked back into reality.

A dream. It had been a dream.

Jackie swallowed over and over again. She licked the inside of her mouth trying to dampen it because it was so dry, but it was useless. _It was just a dream? _Try as she might, she could not rid herself of the giant lump inside her throat. She was past the dizziness and she had long ago reached the edge of sanity. She couldn't see anything and whether her eyes were open or closed she couldn't tell. She faintly heard the conversations of the people in the cell, but they sounded so far away, she didn't even try to hear what they were saying. Now the only sound she acknowledged was the beating of her heart. _Thump-thump…thump-thump…thump-thump…_In the beginning of her predicament, her heartbeat had been fast and furious. Since then it had slowed down to barely existing.

_Thump-thump…he'll save me…thump-thump…I know he will…thump-thump…he loves me, even if he never acted like it…thump-thump…he loves me…thump-thump…he loves me…thump-thump…he loves me…_

Hyde ran both of his bloody hands through his sweaty mass of curls and breathed heavily. He took one last look at his former wife, empty of organs with a giant hole in her neck, and walked into the next room.

The room was empty save a pocket knife in the middle of the floor. _His _pocket knife. Hyde read his instructions and found himself very scared. He could handle the blood and gore of others and even his own, but he wasn't sure if he could handle this. He had known someone who had done it before. On purpose. They had always seemed somewhat happy, but there were always those scars. He could never understand it. Part of him didn't want to.

He took a deep breath and picked up the pocket knife. Time was not an issue. He had a good sense of timing and knew he had a good hour left at the least. _I'm going to do this. _There was no question that he was going to do it. It was the where and the how much he wasn't sure he could deal with.

He looked to the left wall and examined it. He then focused his attention back on the knife. With a shaky hand he opened it up to reveal the blade. Sharp. Very sharp. He looked down at his body until his eyes rested on the underside of his forearm. _That's where he had done it. _The scars of his friend he could never understand were always on the underside of his forearm. _Must be where I can get the most. _

Hyde felt a sickening feeling in his stomach as he rested the sharp edge of the knife on the soft flesh of his arm. He pulled it away for a moment and examined all the other blood that still lay on his body. Most of it, even most of Sam's was already too dry. What wasn't was not near enough. He again focused his attention on his arm and replaced the blade in its previous position. He took a deep breath and tightened all of his muscles, gently scraping the blade over his skin a few times. He then closed his eyes and did the only thing he could to save Jackie.

In her chains, Jackie began drifting down memory lane, ignoring her friends in the cell.

"_Steven! You shaved your beard!" "Yeah, well. I knew it would make you feel better." "Oh, you let the razor say the words your mouth couldn't speak! You're the best hairless boyfriend ever!" _

"_Steven, do I really disgust you?" "No. I disgust me 'cause you should disgust me but you don't." "Well, I fell the same way. I mean, I like how scruffy you are," "Of course you do. Whatever, let's just do whatever we want." _

"_Get your car Jackie, we're going on a freakin' date!" "Oh my god! It's a Veteran's Day miracle!" _

"_It's a Led Zeppelin t-shirt. And it's used." "It's my favourite one. You're with me now, so I want you to have it." _

"_You're beautiful." "Oh my god. You think I look beautiful in a wedding dress…"_

"_Fine, you know maybe a small part of me does still like Michael. But what am I supposed to do. He was my first boyfriend. And you know, I can't stop you breaking up with me but I think it's a real waste because I love you." "I'm not saying it back!" "I don't care." _

"_Jackie, I love you." _

A small smile fell on Jackie's lips with the latter thought. _He loves me. _

Hyde tried to think of other things as the shaky blade cut deep into his skin.

_Jackie. _He let his mind wander with memories of her as he made his way over to the left wall, still with the blade running over his skin.

"_Steven, you shaved your beard!" _

"_You're the best hairless boyfriend ever!" _

"_Steven, I love you."_

"_God you're so sexy right now. Say 'flowchart' again." _

"_I like how scruffy you are." _

While subconsciously still thinking of Jackie and everything she had ever said, Hyde began cupping the large amounts of blood flowing from his arm in his right hand and smearing said blood on the left wall. Over and over again he was covering more and more of the wall with his blood. Sometimes he would take it in his hand; sometimes he would just rub his forearm against the wall. As he did this more, there where obvious places where the blood seemed to stick more to the wall.

Jackie's mind went from thoughts of her and Hyde to thoughts of all the things that Hyde has ever done to make him Steven Hyde.

"_There's this car that runs on water. It runs on water, man!" _

"_Oh no. Am I gonna get all paranoid and think the government is out to get me." "The government is out to get you." _

"_I don't love people. I love Camarro's, Zeppelin, and French fries. In that order." _

"_While I respect the Judeo-Christian ethic, as well as the eastern philosophies and of course, teachings of Muhammad, I find that organized religion has corrupted those beliefs in order to justify countless atrocities throughout history. Were I to attend church, I would be a hypocrite." _

Hyde allowed his mind to delve further into Jackie's persona as well.

"_Foreigners never finish the job."_

"_Fluffycakes is tainted!" _

"_Pants are out. So ladies, shave those legs and put on a skirt." _

"_You better watch your back." "And you, should stop spending so much time on yours." _

"_Lumberjack!" _

"_Michael, get Eric some ice." "Why?" "For that wicked burn, Eric burn!" _

"_Zen? Okay, you can't just make up words, Hyde." _

Hyde took the blade to his arm again and made an even bigger, deeper cut than before. The blood poured out. He dropped the knife and took some blood in his hand and smeared that against the wall while also rubbing the cut directly against it. The places on the wall where the blood seemed to stay began to form figures. Letters. Hyde picked up the knife and took one more cut out of himself. He thought he would faint from the loss of blood, but he kept going.

It seemed only moments later but was really about twenty minutes when Hyde stepped away from the wall and smiled. The bloody message on the wall was now readable. Unaware of what substance was used to cause the blood to react like that and darken where it was placed, and not really caring about it, Hyde read the message aloud as required.

"Congratulations. You have saved her. I hope you take this experience with you when you leave and change your life for the better."

Hyde normally would have thought _yeah, right, ya fucker_ but now all he could think of was Jackie in his arms.

The mechanical door in the cell opened and its occupants rushed out to the seemingly half-dead girl in chains. On the far wall of the room Jackie was in, a small sliding metal door opened to a shoot, which out of it came Jackie's clothes and a key. The key to Jackie's chains. Eric grabbed Jackie's clothes while Kelso took the key, and being the tallest among them, reached up and carefully unlocked the clamps around Jackie's wrists as everyone else held her up and then carefully lowered her to the floor. Jackie was leaning against Donna on her right side while Eric was at her left. Kitty was frantically, but carefully directing Jackie's feet through the holes in her underwear while Red was behind her with calming words to Jackie. Kelso and Fez were fiddling with her jeans reversing them from being inside-out. Donna and Eric easily lifted Jackie's thin body off the floor enough for Kitty to slide Jackie's underwear up her body and in place. Kitty handed Donna the bra and while Donna held the bra on Jackie, Eric put her arms through the straps, and then Donna secured the clasps. While they did this, Kelso and Fez were putting her jeans on and quickly they were slipped up onto Jackie's body and buttoned and zipped by Kitty. Eric was working with Jackie's shirt to be ready to put on and Fez on her socks when the large door in the front of the room slowly opened.

Everyone turned to see Hyde standing in the open door way. His hair was a bloody, frizzled mess. Small cuts littered his face while a few larger gashes were prominent. A faded pink mark was still apparent on his face, which ran from above his right brow, over his eye, across his nose and onto his left cheek where it ended at his jaw, this being the work of the coal he had to dig through. His wife-beater clung to his body with sweat and blood, which either easily soaked through the thin fabric or was wiped on from his hands and there were several cuts in the fabric. His shoulders had their fair share of cuts and bruises as well and his arms had coats of blood, more specifically, his forearms and hands. It would be no surprise if his hands remained permanently red. On his left forearm, the three incredibly deep cuts he had made himself were still bleeding a little. His belt and belt buckle were spotted with blood and his jeans were in the same condition as his wife-beater: worn, sweaty, bloody, and torn. His originally brown boots were now brown and red and significantly more scuffed than they had been.

None of this seemed to bother Hyde as his intense gaze lay directly on one person.

While giving her space, but still holding her up a little, everyone allowed Hyde to walk a straight line to Jackie where he immediately kneeled down in front of her on both knees straddling one of her outstretched legs and wrapped his bloody arms around her body and held her as close to him as was humanly possible with his head buried in the crook of her neck.

Jackie had managed to come out of her daze in time to see Hyde and now all she could do was wrap her arms around him as best she could and sigh. They stayed like that for a moment until Jackie felt Hyde shake a little in her arms and felt a new dampness on her neck. Hyde sat back on his legs and Jackie managed to move her one leg out from under Hyde to join her other on the side which gave them both easier positions to hug each other. Jackie curled her legs under her as Hyde did and it was then that he let out a sob.

Yes. Steven Hyde was crying on Jackie's shoulder. But not just crying. Crying openly. He did not even attempt to hold back his sobs as the tears gushed out.

Previously, Jackie had shed all the tears she could, but now, more began blurring her vision as she held Hyde close to her. There, they both cried for an unknown amount of time.

Eventually the crying became too much and they both lowered each other onto the floor and stayed huddled together lying down and crying.

The others gave them their space and sat back against a wall, doing their own soft crying and watched the too lovers pour their hearts out through tears.

Of course their relationship was no quick fix, but that was not going to stop them.

Note: Okay. This is not the last chapter. There will be one more coming your way. Then it will be complete. Obviously I don't need anymore suggestions, but thanks to everyone who gave me theirs. Also, sorry if some one those quotes were off. I just went on what I could remember. While they may not all be completely accurate, they are all this that had been said in the show to the same effect. Oh and the cutting himself thing. It is a very serious thing. I don't think this story gave the message of "cut yourself" but I just want to be sure. Don't harm yourself on purpose. And if you know anyone who does, help them. I don't know how, it depends on the person. See a professional or something, but do it. If you do it yourself, stop. It is not healthy. Get help. Seeing a professional does NOT make you crazy. I makes you smart and prepared to face your problems, whatever they might be.

Get it. Got it. Good.


	10. Chapter 10

Note: Okay, here it is. So this is the finale. I want to thank everyone for reading and a special thanks to those who took the time to review. Y'all are awesome. And this last chapter is crossed with Grey's Anatomy, just so you know. If you don't watch Grey's Anatomy, you won't get the side conversations that the doctors are talking about, but they are not important. It's just a little fun for the people who do. It really has no importance to the main story. And drum roll please (cue drum roll)……………AND HERE'S THE FINALE!!

_Seattle, Washington_

_August 2, 1987_

A tall redhead, formerly a bottle-blonde, sat in the waiting room of the Sacred Heart Hospital flipping through month-old magazines. She smiled at the sound of two little boys walking down the hallway with their father having a discussion about names.

"She should name her Benji. That's the best name ever," the first boy said.

"You're only saying that because it's your name," the second one retorted.

"So?"

"Besides, that's a boy name. Aunt Jackie wouldn't name a girl a boy name, would she Dad?" They both looked to the taller man walking slightly behind them.

"Nope," was the father's response. "Jackie will probably give her the most effeminate name ever," he said more to himself than his son's.

"What's _effena, effema, effemanina…_" the youngest boy tried to spit out.

"Effeminate?"

"Yeah, that. What's that?"

"It's what your father is," cut in a voice that they all instantly recognized as they entered the waiting room, and they all, including the redhead, stood upon hearing it behind them.

"Uncle Kelso!" the two boys shouted in unison as they ran up to greet the long time family friend.

The father of the two boys walked up to the redhead and put his arm around her while they both waited for their turn to greet their friend whom they had not seen in almost a year, but had kept in close touch with.

"Hey Benji," Kelso said to the older boy of five-years-old. "Connor!" to the younger of four years. "Donna! Eric!" he greeted the married couple of six years. "How's it goin'? I'm not too late, am I?"

"No," Donna responded.

The three adults sat down while the boys took up their coloring books and G.I Joe's to occupy their time.

"So, hey, where are Brooke and Betsy?" Eric asked.

"I'm right here Uncle Eric," responded an eight-year-old smart alec walking a little in front of a tall brunette from the same direction Kelso came.

"Hey guys," said the brunette.

"Hey," said Eric as they all stood up once again to greet the new arrivals.

"Betsy, you've gotten so big," Donna said as she hugged the girl.

"Well, duh. I'm not gonna get smaller," Betsy said.

"Very true."

"Betsy, don't be a smart mouth," the brunette warned.

"She takes after me," Eric said with a smile.

Betsy went to greet Benji and Connor while the adults sat once again.

"So Kelso, how's the law doing? Still intact?" Eric said with a smile.

"No, I'm out of work," Kelso responded with obvious understanding of the joke. In his younger years he would have been confused by the question, but he grew wiser as his age progressed and he lost his naivety. But his childlike humor and small traces of his former oblivion remained and were brought to the surface more often than not.

"Michael is doing very well. Did you hear he was promoted to lieutenant?" the brunette said with excitement.

"Only like, ten times," Donna said.

"Brooke, everyone knows. You don't need to keep telling everyone," Kelso told his long time girlfriend and mother of his child. While the two had been together for years, shared a child, and lived together in Chicago, they had never actually tied the knot. To people outside their circle of friends, it seemed strange, but to them, it was just the way it was.

"I'm sorry. I'm just so excited for you," Brooke said.

"WE'RE HERE! WE'RE HERE! NOW WHERE IS MY NEW GRANDBABY!"

A small, older woman burst through the hospital doors with a grumpy looking old man in tow.

The group rolled their eyes as they stood a third time to greet the woman who had practically raised them all and the man who had threatened to put a foot in their asses more times than any one of them could count.

"Kitty, calm down. You'll scare the baby right back into her mother," the old man said.

Kitty turned sharply on her husband with an evil gleam in her eyes.

"Calm down? Calm down? Red Forman, how can I possibly be expected to calm down? There's a baby for Christ's sake! A baby!" Kitty shouted.

"Not yet," Eric said as his parents made their way into the waiting room to greet everyone. He would have thought that the effects of menopause would have subsided after all these years. No such luck.

The entire group sat down after the newest greets were made only to stand right back up again at a new voice sounding through the hospital.

"My friends!" a foreigner with an untraceable accent entered the waiting room.

"Fez!" "Uncle Fez!" "Buddy!" "The foreigner!" everyone shouted at once.

Once again, more greets were preformed and everyone sat down, once again. They had not been talking for five minutes when a doctor approached them.

"Hello. Are you all here with Mr. and Mrs. Hyde?" she asked.

"Yes," was the general response from the group.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Addison Montgomery. I'll be delivering Jackie's baby."

"Well hello, beautiful," Fez said with a sly smile and dirty thoughts on his mind.

"Uh, yes. Hi," she raised an eyebrow giving her admirer a confused a slightly disturbed look. However, Fez being Fez took this look to mean that she was interested.

Fez strode up to her in a cocky manner and began to drape his arm over her shoulder and ask her what she was doing later, but just then an incredibly handsome and muscular doctor walked by and winked at her with a "Hey, Addison," to which she rolled her eyes and groaned. "Hello, Sloane."

Everyone was a little confused by the interaction between the two doctors, but they were not interested enough to look into it. Fez backed off and Addison began to address them all again.

"You're welcome to see her if you'd like. She's got plenty of time."

Everyone groaned at that. They were in no mood to spend all day at the hospital with nowhere else to go. They thought it was great that Jackie got offered a job in Seattle working as a reporter and that Hyde could open his very own record store there as well, but Seattle? Donna and Eric were the only ones who had been in town long enough to get a hotel room against Jackie's demands that they stay with her and Hyde. After two kids of his own however, Eric had no desire to live with another pregnant women, even if it would have just been for one night. Everyone else had just arrived in town today and went straight to the hospital from the airport.

"I understand waiting around can be very frustrating," Addison laughed a little at their response. "But don't worry. While she's only dilated around three centimeters she should-"

"I don't particularly want to hear the details," Red said with a grimace. All the other men grunted in agreement.

Addison smiled and shook her head. "Well, alright. I'll take you to her room."

In Jackie's hospital room, she was on her bed breathing heavily with Hyde in the chair next to her holding her hand and at a complete loss for what to say.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Steven this hurt like hell!" Jackie was screaming when everyone walked in.

"I know baby," Hyde replied, to which Eric, Kelso, and Red all took a sharp breath in and shook their heads.

"Oh no, no, no," Eric said.

"You know?" Jackie yelled at Hyde. "What do you mean you know?"

"Rookie mistake," Red said.

"You're telling me you know what it feels like to have a person inside of you who won't stop kicking your stomach until you're positive it is black and blue? Is that what you are telling me Steven Hyde?! I don't think so!"

Hyde tried to redeem himself. "No, Jackie, I just mean-."

"You don't know pain!"

Hyde was about to respond but Eric, Kelso, and Red shook their heads "no" so he shut his mouth before he got into more trouble.

"The contractions may be painful, but they're a sign that you're getting ready to go into the delivery room," Addison said as she looked over Jackie's charts. "Just remember to take deep breaths. And you," she directed to Hyde. "do anything that relaxes her. Okay/"

"Yeah, got it. Thanks, Doc," Hyde replied.

"Of course." She smiled to everyone before she left the room.

Everyone gathered around Jackie's bed.

"Don't worry," Donna tried to make Jackie feel better. "I know it's painful now, but it will all be worth it."

"Besides, isn't like, the actual giving birth part like, ten times more painful?" Kelso said.

Everyone gave him a "what the hell" look and Jackie glared at him.

"Thank you Michael! That's very helpful! I'm so glad to know I haven't yet seen the worst of it!" Jackie yelled with all the sarcasm she could muster.

"You're welcome. Or wait. That was sarcasm, wasn't it? Sorry. Never mind," Kelso replied sheepishly.

"Uncle Hyde. What are you gonna name the baby? It's a girl, right?" Benji asked as he stood right next to Hyde with sheer curiosity.

"Yeah, it's a girl," Hyde replied. "And we're still debating on the name."

"You should name her 'Angie'", a new voice said as it entered the room with a companion.

"Hey, Ange," Hyde said as he got up to greet his sister and father.

Once again, greetings were made among the group through hugs and smiles. Some were awkward, some were like feeling whole again, and some were entirely unwelcome (particularly in Red's case), but they were all done for the simple reason that the family was back together.

Near the end of the reacquainting period as the conversations died down and focus began to shift once again towards Jackie and her claim that hell had finally reached earth and was getting there through her vagina, one question stopped everyone dead in their tracks and even Jackie held her breath.

"Uncle Hyde," Benji asked, "what's that mark on your face?"

Silence for a good five seconds, though it seemed an eternity to the adults in the room.

"Uhhh…" Hyde didn't know what to say. _Play dumb. _"What mark?"

"This one." Benji lifted his right index finger to Hyde's face and traced the faded pink scar from where it began on his forehead above his right brow, over his eye, across his nose, onto his left cheek, and disappeared at his jaw. "I never noticed it before."

All the children expressed their agreement towards the scar they never noticed.

"Well, uhhh…it's uhhh. It's from…uhhh." Hyde's memory stirred and images of horror crossed over his eyes.

_Hot coals falling down all around him and one sliding over his face and producing the mark, which had been much darker then. His hands burning to the bone. He is covered in blood. _

Hyde unconsciously rubbed the inside of his left forearm where three large scars remained.

_Dragging the blade across his skin, the blood pouring from his arm. Smearing said blood on the wall before desperately trying to make out the letters coming to light. _

"It's just a scar, sweetie," Jackie laughed on the inside at her answer. _Just a scar? That is anything but just a scar. That's one of the few that still remained, and probably always would. That and those scars on his arm._

Betsy got right into Hyde's face for an inspection. "Huh. It's kinda faded, but it's pretty long. Hey, you're like Scarface!"

"Betsy, stop it!" Brooke whispered in a way that could not really count for a whisper. While Brooke did not know the experience first hand, she knew no less than Jackie, Kelso, Fez, Eric, Kitty, Red, or Hyde knew.

Angie and WB knew as well, but not in nearly as much detail. Hyde had been more kind in his explanation to them than Kelso had to Brooke.

The children giggled at Betsy's reference to a movie none of them had seen and knew nothing about save the name.

The moment was broken up by the doctor and someone new in tow, but who was obviously with the hospital. The new person was speaking to Addison as they entered the room, "I just couldn't take it anymore. I may still be on probation, but I am not his personal assistant. I mean, who does Sloane think he is asking me to get him coffee?"

"He's an ass, Izzie. I'm just waiting for Alex to figure that out," Addison responded before turning her attention to Jackie. "How are we doin'?"

Jackie turned to the doctor a little startled, but smiled. "Fine. Just fi-aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW! Steven!"

"I'm right here," Hyde held her hand.

"STEVEN! AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! Oh my god, STEVEN!"

"Jackie, I'm right here. Okay?"

"Shut up! I know you're right there! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! I just wanna yell at you!"

"Did I do something wrong?"

"You got me pregna-ooooooooowwwwwwwwwwww!"

"Yeah. Yeah, that was me."

"Let me check you, Jackie," the doctor said as everyone else backed up to give Addison and Izzie room. They checked how many centimeters Jackie was dilated and they smiled when she was at ten. "You're ready."

Izzie smiled at Hyde. "You ready to be a dad?"

Hyde swallowed nervously and nodded.

Jackie was rolled out of the room on a wheel chair and taken to a separate room for the delivery. Only one person was allowed in the delivering room with Jackie. Hyde was becoming a little panicked and began speaking incoherently and it was making Jackie nervous. She threatened to kick him out and get Donna in here with her if he didn't calm down and shut up. It was probably the only time Jackie was ever the one to tell Hyde to shut up, and if it wasn't, it was the only time he ever listened.

Hyde was sweating as the doctors were preparing Jackie so he began rolling up his long sleeves, but stopped when he saw the scars on his left arm.

_One cut wasn't enough. Hyde was forced to cut through his skin again to draw more blood to smear on the wall. And again. Hyde never felt so close to death in his life as he was slicing his arm open for the third time. _

Hyde stared at the scars and Jackie noticed. She began smoothing her fingers over the scars. She lifted his arm up to her face and kissed his them. _For me. These were for me. _

The birth of Isabelle Addison (named after the doctors because afterwards, Jackie was so relieved and happy, she called them her heroes and decided she would name the baby after them, and Hyde was just so thankful it was over that he agreed) was difficult. There was a scare when she was breeched which had Jackie crying and Hyde demanding the doctors to "fix it", but in the end, she was perfect, as Hyde described her to the group anxiously waiting outside. They all filed into the room and took turns holding her. The children sat on a chair and held her very carefully, thinking she could break at any given moment.

Isabelle Addison eventually made her way back to Jackie as Hyde sat on the bed next to her with his arm over her shoulder and his other hand over Jackie's holding the baby. They looked like the picture perfect family as Hyde leaned over and kissed Jackie's temple whispering, "I love you" to her and then down at the baby.

"Isabelle Addison Hyde," Jackie said her name over and over again and every time Hyde said "yep" in response, smiling down at his new baby girl.

Isabelle Addison Hyde: the product of the most unholy, sickening, wrong, dysfunctional, beautiful, caring, cherishing, loving couple to ever be happy together.

THE END

Note: Thank you so much for reading. I hope y'all liked it. (Yes I made Jackie a reporter. She would be a great reporter. She is nosy and always wants details.) I will not be writing a sequel for this. I have trouble writing when there is no real plot to it. I can't imagine what the story line for a sequel would be. Also, I think a sequel for this kind of story would be a little boring, or just unnecessary. I will be writing other fics soon, but for now, it's been fun. Get it. Got it. Good.


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